Letter: Funds for the Dome

Letter: Funds for the Dome

Sir: Mick Fickling's letter (30 December) gives the impression that the Millennium Experience is being funded from tax revenues. This is simply not the case.

In fact, the Experience is not receiving any money from the Treasury. It is being paid for through a combination of private sponsorship, lottery money and revenue that the Experience will generate itself through ticket sales and merchandising. The lottery funds allocated to the project amount to only 4 per cent of the total funds distributed to the "good causes" and are provided by the Millennium Commission, a body which was established by Parliament to mark the millennium with capital projects.

Mr Fickling is also wrong to state that the costs of the Experience are escalating. We are ahead of schedule, within budget and on course to deliver an Experience that will involve everyone in Britain and be the envy of the world.

GEZ SAGAR

Head of Press and Parliamentary Affairs

The New Millennium Experience Company

London SW1